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Saturday, March 07, 2009

Balancing Testosterone and Grey Matter

A Kadir Jasin

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AFTER my “Not A Very Clever Gurindam” and the lengthy Mini Budget postings, I think you and I are entitled to a respite.

So while waiting to the Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Finance, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, to spell out his RM10-billion Mini Budget this Tuesday, we shall not talk about our deep emotional traumas and even deeper holes in out pockets.

Political and economic turmoil is taking tolls on all of us. Hopefully, an efficient and cost effective implementation of the package will avert the recession and make our lives less miserable.

So for this posting we shall talk about testosterone, yes, tes-tos-terone.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not getting all charged up and ready to roll. At my age, any rolling that I do is, inevitably, downhill.

The testosterone I am talking about, however, has something to do with the “koro” syndrome we talked about in the June 17, 2008 posting.

Yes, most of us tend to relate this noble, versatile hormone to sexuality, manliness and manhood. In short it’s about libido or “mojo” according to fictional British secret agent Austin Powers.

That’s not incorrect. Testosterone is a male sex hormone.

My doctor agrees fully with the literary description that testosterone is “the most important male sex hormone.”

One such literature I read says testosterone is responsible for a boy’s development into a man during puberty and is necessary throughout his life for maintaining health and quality of life.

As the name suggests, testosterone is produced in the testes (or by the testes). From there it gets into the blood system and reaches its target organs – yes, organs.

Testosterone not only stimulates men’s sexual desire. It also acts and affects a whole spectrum of organs and activities.

In fact, for an Afghan man to be a true Taliban, he has to have the correct amount of testosterone otherwise his facial hair will not grow normally. What is a Taliban without facial hair?

And to win a war, he has to be positive. Again he need testosterone as the hormone is important for mental balance and for prevention of negative moods.

And what good is Arnold Schwarzenegger without those gigantic muscles and growling voice? Without testosterone he won’t have those muscles and threatening voice.

According to pamphlet from Bayer, the giant German pharmaceutical company, the following are examples of testosterone’s functions:-

1. Voice – responsible for the voice breaking and for the man’s voice to be deep;

2. Skin and hair – responsible for the formation of the typical male hair over the whole body, and for maintaining it, and especially for the growth of the beard. (It’s here the Taliban comes in);

3. Bones – building and maintaining healthy bone structure;

4. Blood – assists the formation of the red blood cells and consequently for the transportation of oxygen in the blood;

6. Mind – important for mental balance and for preventing negative moods. It is also responsible for memory, orientation, coordination and concentration;

7. Sexuality – regulates the desire for sex and for a large number of sexual functions; and

8. Physics – responsible for male physique.

But whether one is Taliban or Arnold Schwarzenegger, old age and illnesses reduce the production of testosterone resulting in diminished libido and, in the case of Austin Powers, “mojo”.

It also causes erectile dysfunction, muscle atrophy, increase in body fat, feelings of depression and ill temper, anemia and osteoporosis.

That explains why some older people are ill tempered and grumpy.

Don’t despair. Modern medicine and health care have the answers. It costs money of course. Personally, I believe that healthy lifestyle and a lot of ulam-ulam kampung are as good as pills and hormone injections.

What does all this teach us then? For me it is yet another example of the miracle of creation --- that two small inconspicuous organs the size of a large marble produce such an important hormone.

Yes, no hidden meaning and no hidden agenda here. There’s no need to read in between the line.

I am not alluding or accusing anybody of lacking testicular gumption or fortitude due to testosterone deficiency.

With our politicians challenging and taking each other to courts almost on the daily basis, I am sure none suffers from the infliction.

On the contrary, I think they are well on the top of things in as far as testosterone is concerned. All that they need is to balance it with the production of the grey matter.

Dato' ..I'd came across somewhere that intelligent women in average (not due to genes factors) have a bit more hair due to higher testostrone level in their body..testostrone is also responsible for our IQ capability..

Even men biologically have a bit of estrogen (women) hormone in their body..the excess of it result in womenly behaviour..

Good for bedtime partner, but not as good as a resourceful companion or life-partner.

p/s: our politicians nowdays are all girls..to much influenced by hormones.. bunch of PMS & menopaused people..we are doomed with these worthless politicians!

Maybe its about time we segregate the power to absolute democracy principle... separate the legislative & executive powers from these clowns..like the case of USA..the senates & the secretaries..only the President have both powers..unlike Malaysia..a half baked English style nation..everybody thinks they are legion of super heros with the two powers...

left alone for them the legislative & they can have all the constitutional debates until cows come home and the sun go supernova..

meanwhile..let somebody in full time & capacity run & navigate this country properly..

The Hartal in 1947 by the Malayan citizens (Malays, Chinese, Indians, etc together) then, against the Colonial Administration's exploitation & abuse of power....was a Peaceful Protest of Disobedience that produced results - Relevant to the situations then !

- In 1957 this great nation and its rayaat FINALLY gained our Independence from the "Colonial British Rule" through the citizen's "concerted" struggle & the Leadership of our Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra & his Malaysian cabinet of TRUE TUANS managing the system of Wesminster style Democracy & with the Rule of Law in 1957,

That was the old UMNO (led by Tunku), MCA (lead by Tun Tan Cheng Lock) & MIC (lead by Tun Sambanthan) under the banner of the "Alliance" government.

Is not that the "Better & Smarter" choice by the Leadership of our Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra & his Malaysian cabinet of TRUE TUANS managing the system of Wesminster style Democracy & with the Rule of Law in 1957....

Through Intelligent Political negotiations & INTELLIGENT POLITICAL SOLUTIONS leading to a "Bloodless" handover & the Independence of Malaya!

It proves a point that Educated, Intelligent, Smart & Wise leaders do not have to resort to Threats, Militancy & unnecessary Battles with collateral damage & bloodshed to the citizens!

I was there at the Dataran Merdeka to witness the occassion on 31st August 1957 - the joy, tears & jubilation of Tunku, his cabinet & every Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc citizen of Malaya !

So let us ALL accept the fact that our forefathers suffered but persevered & did not give up the struggle for Independence...until it was achieved !

Let us ALL also learn to APPRECIATE this fact that ....Tunku & his Malaysian cabinet of TRUE TUANS, EARNED the RESPECT, TRUST & SUPPORT of ALL the Malayan citizens.

Wow!! Complete. Susahlah saya nak cari makan lepas ni Dato. In medicine, if you know the physiology (normal), then the pathology (abnormal) will be easy. I just want to add a few facts. The effect of the testosterone deficiency basically depends on the specific time frame. For instance, if it occurs during the first trimester, the newborn will presented with ambiguous genitalia. If it occurs during the third trimester(before delivery), then the baby will have micropenis. If it occurs before puberty, the patient will have delayed puberty where the secondary sexual characteristic will be absent. If it occurs at the later age, the patient will have a disease which is called ADAM (androgen deficiency in adult syndrome). The syndrome includes sexual dysfunction (loss of libido), decrease muscle strength (tak kuat), increase abdominal fat (buncit), decline in the bone mineral density (tulang reput), cognitive impairment (dementia) and metabolic syndrome (diabetes mellitus). Beware!!!If you notice, testosterone hormone is derived from cholesterol. So, you need to eat cholesterol to stimulate testosterone production. However if you take too much cholesterol, it will cause cardiovascular complications such as heart attack and stroke. On the other hand, if you take anti cholesterol drugs, it will reduce not only your cholesterol but also the testosterone production. So, you have to choose which one is more important; either your sex libido or your brain and heart. Quite a difficult decision to make. (Don’t worry, it was reported as non significant in most of the lipid lowering study.)

I will give you another example of injustice in medicine. Have you heard of Rule Of 9, Basically it is a medical rule to predict severity of burn in percentage according to the site and area of burn and it will predict the prognosis later on. The problem is, it only translate a patient physically not psychologically. Can you imagine if your genitalia involved in burn and a doctor said to you “Don’t worry the burn involve only 1% of your body area and you won’t die from it”.

There is a statement said that life begins at 40. The truth is, beginning of the age 40, our testosterone level starts to decline ranging from 0.4%(total testosterone concentration) and 1.3%(free testosterone concentration) a year. The decline will be accelerated in obesity and in premorbid history. That’s why lots of people experienced ‘koro’ after 40. For the treatment, nowadays, we have testosterone replacement therapy in form of oral, transdermal implantations, local applications and intramuscular injection. Don’t forget to check your testosterone level first because it is indicated only after review the result. Be careful, if the testosterone level is very high after treatment, it may cause testosterone dependent disease such as prostate cancer. Hai, Macam-macam. Lebih tak boleh, kurang pun tak boleh. TQ

Hello Dato';Your brillance is beyond comprehension.Be it a serious topic,comedy,satire, analogy and poetry...you've excelled without DOUBT.Your opinion being at your age and going downhill is inaplicable to say the least.Your grey mass and testoterone still numbers in the majority. Could be the ulam ulam that defies all Bayer medications and multivits...Love your blogs love your brains... :]It is still in good working order...err I mean the testoterone in you...no worries, you are definitley goin uphill.No doubt.

So clever. But alas, I fear that the (our) politicians might just say, in response to your brilliant piece, "I have enough grey matter/stuff/things and I've gotten them dyed black to their original glory!!!!"

Our politicians DO NOT HAVE any grey matter at all - sad state of being -, sadder still for us fools.

As the name suggests, testosterone is produced in the testes (or by the testes). From there it gets into the blood system and reaches its target organs – yes, organs..emm, I SAY MAN, APPEARS YOU WERE TRYING VERY HARD TO EMPHASISE ON THE HIDDEN ORGAN. NO HIDDEN AGENDA, EH?WOW! EXCLAIMED MEKYAM.. A DOCTOR OR A PHAMARCIST, PERHAPS?

NOW WE KNOW WHY WE CAN 'HARDLY' RECITE 'SADAKALLAH' ONCE A MONTH. HE HE..

ALFATIHAH, AMIN.ps. We still remember the first time we were expose to sex education, watching the movie 'Sex and Life' at Pavilion theatre, KL with an Indian classmate. He cud'nt control himself and just BLURT out loud.. AYOYO, KADAWALLEK!

can't help smiling ... that bring me to Ruud Gullit who had once said, young strikers (high testosterone) tend to run all over the place, but matured strikers (more gray ...) tend to understand the nature of the game and put himself at the right place ...

mohdaffendi was so full of hot gas nowdays..too much testostrone perhaps..and to add to worst was the induced adrenalin running in the blood..ready to explode anytime especially at the time of this global economic PMS..

About Me

I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine, Kunta Kinte Original in Berita Harian and A Kadir Jasin Bercerita in Dewan Masyarakat. Books: Biar Putih Tulang (1998), Other Thots – Opinions & Observations 1992-2001 (2001), The Wings of an Eagle (2003), Mencari Dugalia Huso (2006), Damned That Thots (2006), Blogger (2006), PRU 2008-Rakyat Sahut Cabaran (2008), Komedi & Tragedi-Latest in Contemporary Malaysian Politics (2009) and Membangun Bangsa dengan Pena (2009).